The Light's True Strength
by Kneesurgery
Summary: Darius hates Lux, first only as a Demacian, but then as a thoughtless wimp when she acts kind to him. Unfortunately for him, he is forced to get to know her a little better.
1. Chapter 1

Darius awoke soundlessly from his dreamless sleep at sunrise. It was going to be another day lived in the glory of Noxus. The light from sunrise poured into his room slowly. Darius sat up, and got out of bed. He was only wearing underwear, which would make it easier to do his daily calisthenics. He was quickly doing lunges, pull-ups, squats, and all other kinds of exercises required to keep his physical edge in the very competitive Fields of Justice.

Before long, he had worked up quite a sweat and decided to stop for the day, as the sun coming through his window was also helping to warm him up, and it wasn't healthy to raise one's temperature too high before eating anything. And he hadn't had his morning coffee yet either.

Darius took a brisque cold shower, dressed in his usual league garb, and made his way to the counter where he stored all foods that he kept in the league residence. Darius was starting to question his decision to take up residence at the Institute of War because even though he was sure it did build the influence of Noxus faster this way, he kept running into other champions he would normally consider enemies, but everyone acted like they were old friends or something.

It disturbed him.

Darius took a deep sigh and took out the materials needed to make coffee: the hextech coffee machine and pure Noxian blend, which was now called, "Draven blend." Darius scowled, his brother was on all kinds of advertising nowadays. Quite the public figure, Draven had managed to launch a ridiculous campaign to become the face of Noxian exports, and it had massively succeeded, to where nobody had expected. Draven himself had only prepared a couple slogans for his venture, and as a result, practically everything exported from Noxus had the same cheesy saying. "I'm the glorious executioner, and I absolutely love this product."

Darius had to force back the urge to puke whenever he saw it. He focused in on making his morning coffee, which pretty much had become a necessary part of his morning rituals. The warming smell of coffee beans being roasted in the hextech contraption pulled on Darius' thought processes, waking him up a little from just the smell. When it was done, he eagerly poured it out into the mug he used every morning before adding just a little cream and sugar. Then the ensamble was complete and he brought it to his lips, but hesitated, wanting to savor the simple smell of the warming drink before drinking it down.

After a short second, he went ahead and sipped the dark fluid, allowing the taste to permeate his consciousness and stirr up his dormant energy, fully completing his morning rituals. Darius moved over to the one chair in his Institute of War appartment, and sat down in it, continuing to slowly sip his morning coffee. He paused the act of slowly sipping the drink for a minute to rest his head back on the top rim of the chair. He allowed the weariness of days past and worries to come to fall out through the soles of his feet; the warming liquid spreading throughout his entire being. This moment every morning, it was heavenly.

The coffee had cooled somewhat, and Darius quickly chugged the last of it, ready to get on with his day. After throwing both the coffee maker and mug into the meager sink next to the area he had pulled them out, Darius grabbed one of his always stocked millitary rations. They may not taste good, but they provided every last bit of needed nutrients for a simple warrior to transform into the closest thing to Dr. Mundo, given the amount of work needed to accomplish that feat anyway. He very quickly devoured the solid bar of crunchy coarse texture before sweeping out of the door and into the hallway that led to the main chamber of the Institute of War, where he could sign up for extra matches.

Darius strode down the hallway confidently, for he was the hand of Noxus, and was proud to be on display for their great strength. He rounded a sharp corner and came almost face to face with Garen and Luxanna Crownguard. They were slightly beaten-looking and fatigued, but before Darius or Garen could react, Luxanna smiled and waved at him.

Darius stopped in his tracks. His eyes widened and he stared at the siblings while they walked past him and around the corner he had just passed. Darius was dumbfounded. They were the greatest of enemies and Luxanna had given him a smile with a friendly wave behind it. Clearly things got very warped around here at the Institute of War. Darius tried to shake the memory out of his head as he went about his plans for the day, for he needed to be in full mental condition to show his true strength on the battlefield. Still, he could tell this was going to be an off day.

Darius eventually found himself in one of the extra matches he had signed up for. It was on the newly revamped Twisted Treeline. Little was different save for the addition of two altars that were able to be captured for slight magical advantages given to the team which held them. Darius hated the new mechanics. He disliked all magic, viewing it as a cowards way to strike from afar. Darius respected the power behind magical attacks, but held the mages themselves in low regard.

Regardless, he was on the newly refurbished Twisted Treeline when, to his great discomfort, Luxanna Crownguard showed up on his team. He was determined to show no weakness; however, so he gave her only a curt nod when the match was beginning. She may have been his teammate, but she was far from someone he would ever get along with. There was no rule about displaying openly pleasant actions to all other champions. Darius could practically ignore her if he were to choose to.

Normally, Darius didn't get paired with any Demacians or Ionians simply because such was his deal with the league, but when he signed up for extra matches, such agreements were up in smoke. It didn't matter, he would win the match and make full use of Luxanna's skills to do so.

Darius bought the magical pendants that he had planned on getting, the health turtle shell and speed boots, before tightening his grip on the handle of his axe and striding off in the direction of their altar. He was irked by how Luxanna managed to stay next to him during the whole trip, even when he had quickly managed his pendants with the express idea of avoiding her. Indeed, this match would be very annoying.

Nevertheless, they both ended up hiding in the brush next to the altar with their third teammate, Shen. Darius dryly realized they were all from different factions, yet he was the one who had the exquisite pleasure of being in the faction in contention with both of theirs. No conversation sprung up while they waited, however. Soon the enemy team would probably be careening into the nearby area in an attempt to steal their altar when the capturing mechanism unlocked.

Darius grinned somewhat in anticipation. He held his axe tightly, readying his reflexes for the eventual surprise attack that awaited them. Sure enough, a sonic projection from Lee Sin hit Shen on the shoulder, and before there was any time to react the blind monk flew through the air foot first to mash into Shen with extreme force. Shortly behind the ionian, Rengar flew through the air with a howl, descending upon Shen with a mixture of tooth and steel.

Surprisingly enough, to Darius anyway, Luxanna was the first to act, casting her light binding and rooting both Lee Sin and Rengar to their positions, but before any more action could take place, Katarina suddenly appeared behind Lux and shoved a tiny shiv into her back. Their team composition was very agressive, indeed. In slight anticipation for what happened next, Darius grinned widely. His powerful muscles rippled as he spun the massive axe around his body once, clipping each enemy cleanly with the outer reaches of the axe; Shen and Luxanna knew well enough to duck quickly for Darius' axe to pass over their heads. Then Luxanna went about detonating the force of light that was left upon the blind monk and the pridestalker while Shen dashed into all three easily grouped up enemies, taunting them with his ninja techniques.

Darius went to work with his axe, indiscriminantly swinging at all three foes. Although Katarina was his ally off the Fields of Justice, here, she was just another victim for his Noxian Guillotine. He took some hits, but returned them threefold. Once he felt he could spin his axe again, he gave a small chuckle to signifiy to his teammates, who thankfully could always hear him as part of the magic that the summoner's used. Upon spinning his axe around his body once again, he tore through each person who was still standing, Katarina and Lee Sin.

Katarina immediately collapsed, soul kept in suspension by the summoners. Lee Sin held his composure before he followed suit. Luxanna jumped up, clearly overjoyed they had lived through the exchange. Shen's body was lying several feet away, having sustained simply too much physical abuse. Darius was less than happy about how he had been left with Luxanna, then realized they would split up to take different lanes after capturing the altar. "Get on the point, lets capture it," Darius ordered in his famously deep, commanding voice.

"OK!" Luxanna was far too happy to comply with his order. Even though she had followed his order, Darius still felt sick. Nevertheless, he followed her onto the altar and waited as their mere presence brought the altar under their team's control.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of white and the dark landscape of rotten trees and gravestones that marked their presence in Twisted Treeline disappeared in favor of a rugged jungle. Everywhere that could be seen was covered in green, with more green vines covering every surface. Luxanna and Darius were in the middle of a mostly cleared area, surrounded by thick trees and overgrowth covering everything.

Luxanna slowly turned around to face Darius, and he realized that they were both suddenly not on the Fields of Justice and standing nearly 3 feet from each other. A mutual understanding was formed in their eyes.

Darius lashed out with his axe, putting the back tooth-side down as he latched onto Luxanna's left arm and pulled her towards him. She next surprised him by throwing her light binding into his body while being pulled. Darius was unable to move while the light sorceress spun her wand and threw a small bolt of light into his chest, detonating the leftover mark that her spell had left on him. Darius felt the uncomfortable sensation of every small piece of his body rebelling and attempting to split away and explode. He didn't explode however and, when Luxanna's spell ran out, she was solidly in range of his axe.

His muscles ripped with effort again with the tell-tale signs of what was to come next, though unfortunately for Luxanna, she didn't notice. Darius' axe spun around his person with terrifying force and catching Luxanna's thigh, tearing open her skin and starting a flow of blood. Before his eyes, the wound struggled to stop bleeding, the power of most champions in the league was to prevent their bleeding by momentarily being able to stitch up their injuries enough to maintain full functionality. Darius was able to tear deep enough to keep this from taking effect for several seconds, slowing movement and causing enough blood loss to cause general lethargy. To Darius' surprise, Luxanna simply bared her teeth and prepared another spell to throw into his face.

Then, an incredibly low gutteral growl pounded through the air and earth like a wet towell vibrating through the air. Darius and Luxanna both froze, halfway through their fierce fight, and slowly turned their gaze off to Darius' right into the darkness through the dense foliage.

Suddenly a large creature flew through the air on almost ethereal wings while thrusting out it's front arms to catch whatever prey would still be in it's trajectory path upon landing. Darius kept his eyes on the strange bug-like predator while he threw all his weight into a backwards leap, deftly getting out of the way of the frightening thing. He realized the arms of the creature were actually scythe blades, and the creature itself was deep purple with glowing light purple eyes. It had hard carapace encompasing it's surely vulnerable core.

After the creature landed, Darius wasted no time moving into action, instantly throwing a massive attack from his axe at the creature's midsection, not even spending the time to see if Luxanna had been able to escape the creature's initial attack. To Darius' bewilderment, the creature practically teleported out of his intended swing path, instantly snapping the tough carapace around Darius' seemingly slow moving axe. Then the creature lashed out at the great Noxian, catching his shoulderplate with both arm-blades, cutting through it almost all the way. Knowing the armor would probably save him again, Darius had already begun swinging his axe again at the creature, hoping it's failed attempt at striking back would slow it down.

Instead it once again pranced away from his range and back into it, but this time, a dazzling light flew in front of both their faces. Darius now knew Luxanna had evaded the creature's initial attack. Strangely enough, the normal slowing effect from this particular spell only seemed to be affecting the creature, as Darius found his limbs responding normally. Clearly, the light sorceress thought her best protection would be through temporary alliance with the Hand of Noxus to dispell the alien threat.

Realizing what this meant, Darius took full advantage of it, tensing his muscles a fourth time in a very short amount of time, to spin his axe at whirlwind speed around his body. The satisfactory sound of his axe tearing through another enemy was music to Darius' ears. The creature bled profusely, quite possibly not being used to prey that retaliated. Darius slashed out with his axe several times more, hitting likely weak points in the armor carapace, with quite satisfactory results. The thick grassy floor was now entirely stained red below the purple creature by the time Luxanna's spell ran out, detonating and marking the creature with light.

Luxanna appeared to lose no time detonating the mark, visibly making the creature shudder with pain. Darius was unsurprised at this due to his first memory of the experience. The creature was bleeding from many exploited areas of his natural armor, and Darius decided it was time for him to unleash his "Noxian Guillotine" finishing move. The creature luched away from Darius, lethargically attempting to disengage from the intimidating Noxian.

Darius was faster.

With a frightening roar, Darius brought his massive weapon behind his back and bent his knees before springing far into the air. His axe arched through the air, leaving the traces of blood on it trailing behind it. The creature stopped, either frozen out of fear or curiosity of what would happen next, and stared up into the oncoming brutal onslaught. Darius brought the roar to his loudest volume and landed the axe clean through the now fragile looking purple demon.

With a sickening _squelch_, the massive axe flew through the enemy which nearly exploded in purple foam. Darius landed and prepared to strike more, as needed, when he looked up from his partially squatting position and saw nothing. Where there had once been a nearly dead fiersome predator, there was simply a large bloodstain and empty air. Suddenly, the creature appeared nearly thirty feet away before launching into the air with it's somehow still attached wings. It was fleeing, clearly regretting assaulting the two even though they had been fighting at the beginning of the assault.

Darius realized he was breathing hard, keeping his lungs circulating, ready for the fight to continue. He quickly turned around and looked to the blonde light mage, who was also ready to continue their fight, but seemed reluctant. Darius realized he didn't really wish to fight any longer either, he had sustained slight damage between their fight and the fight with the unknown creature.

Luxanna held onto her want tightly, Darius noticed. She was clearly prepared for him to make the first move. Darius slowly swiveled his axe around his back, underneath the dark red cloak he wore, and into hidden latched that would keep his weapon secured to his back. For the umpteenth time, Darius was surprised when Luxanna's wand merely dissolved into the air with only a slight fall of sparkles where it had once rested in her hands. Clearly, they had come to some kind of agreement.

Although Darius didn't really wish to turn his back on Luxanna, who had just helped him survive against an unknown opponent, he knew it would me necessary to survive. The memory from that morning in the hallway flashed through his mind. Darius gave a long sigh before grudgingly saying, "Come on, lets find somewhere to hide out until the summoner's bring us back." He then turned his back and strode away, almost hoping the light mage would turn down his offer to help survive until they got back to the Institute of War.

He didn't want to help Luxanna, but she had helped him, and paying one's debts was necessary, and it was far more likely they would not get ambushed by a similar opponent if they stayed together. Darius could probably handle it on his own, but Luxanna would be down very quickly, so he would pay his debt through simply looking after her until the summoners figured out what had happened in Twisted Treeline and brought them back.

To Darius' slight relief and chagrin, Luxanna did indeed show up slightly behind him, trailing his footsteps by far enough to react if he suddenly turned on her. _She's smart_, Darius thought,_ I'll give her that_. Darius strode through the rough foliage, plowing through the undergrowth with his strength and leaving a path for Luxanna to follow.

It wasn't long before Darius saw a cave entrance that could likely serve as protection for a night if such a long time were needed. He made his way over to it and paused at the entrance. If there were already a resident for the protective shelter. To test his theory, Darius let out a monstrous roar into the cave, shaking the pebbles and stirring the ground beneath his feet. When no returning sound came other than his echo, Darius figured it would be mostly safe. He turned to find Luxanna staring at him untrustingly, probably for his seemingly random outburst of noise.

Darius wordlessly went into the cave, and was happy to find it wasn't that deep. It only went in roughly 75 feet. In addition, it had previously functioned as quite a few animal's residences, and therefore the ground was dirt instead of only hard stone. _My luck just keeps getting better_, Darius thought dryly.

He moved to one side of the inner most reach of the cave and popped two different latches on his shoulders, one dropping his cloak down onto the floor as a blanket, the other to drop his axe upon the floor as well. He aimed the axe to land down next to his blanket, and it did since he had a lot of practice with this monotonous action.

He noticed Luxanna slowly following over to the opposite side of the cave, where she stopped. "Make yourself at home," Darius said, "There isn't much to do until the summoner's recall us with their magic."

Luxanna slowly moved opposite him and began to sit down on the mostly soft earth. Darius noticed her wince as she got down to a sitting position, propping her back up against the wall of the cave. He suddenly remembered the grevious wound inflicted on her thigh.

He got up and began to walk towards Luxanna, pulling out a healing potion he had originally bought at the shot in Twisted Treeline as he moved over to her. She looked at him suspiciously until she saw the healing potion come out of his clothing, realizing what he was intending to do. Darius got down on one knee to become level with the girl, about to hand her the potion then thinking better of it.

"Normally, I'd give this to you to drink, but since the damage is generally confined to one spot, it should be administered directly," Darius said, having gained a very good understanding of how the potions worked during his stint in the League. He realized that even though the damage in question had been easily noticeable, having tore through clothing and underarmor alike, it was no longer visible. Then Luxanna dispelled a smaller spell she had been holding onto and he realized she had been bending the light around her wound, effectively keeping it hidden.

Luxanna herself gasped after seeing the wound again. It was about an entire inch deep, but the bleeding had stopped for the most part. Dark red blood oozed in the wound still, but Darius knew the potion would heal the damage. He deftly uncorked the bottle and slowly poured it into the deep gash, not allowing a single drop of healing to go anywhere but into the wound.

After doing so, the wound began to stitch up before their very eyes once again, though this time was for real. Luxanna breathed a sigh of relief, the pain had obviously let up. "Darius," she ventured cautiously, "Thank you."

"We are not friends, Luxanna," Darius said unhappily, "Through some misbegotten acquisition of debt I am helping you now, and it wasn't a fair fight anyway since we started in such close proximity." He walked back to his own space and sat down on the cloak he had deposited on the ground.

"Nobody calls me Luxanna except for my parents," the mage said emotionlessly, "Just call me Lux."

"Fine, Lux," Darius said snidely, "Since you are a mage, do you have any theories about what happened on the altar? Do you know where we are?"

"My guess is that since the altars are fairly new, some kind of extraneous scenario played out causing us to be teleported after capturing the point instead of simply capturing it," Lux said in an already bright voice, "But, no. I don't know where we are." She said the last sentence with a moniker of regret and sadness.

Darius wondered what he was doing as he pulled out another health potion and tossed it too her. "Here," He grudgingly said, "In case the wound opens up."

"Thanks," Lux said hesitantly.

They sat is silence for what seemed forever. There was still light outside. The entrance to the cave was slightly upwards slanted from the end, so there was a small amount of light that made it in even as it would get later. The light grew darker very quickly. Then it got quite dark and started to rain.

It had to be nearing nightime. Darius tried to think about anything, everything, other than how he was here, but could only focus on how he was stuck in a small cave with the postergirl of his enemy. And he had helped her.

He distracted himself by taking off his pauldrons, feeling more assured with the rain that no creature would attempt to ambush them in the cave.

There was a cliche crash of thunder and Lux visibly flinched. Darius looked closer and saw she was shivering. Clearly her outfit wasn't the most thermal protecting. Still better than Ahri though.

Darius sighed even deeper than he had when leading her off from their fight. "Lux," He said, slowly saying every word, wanting to find himself unable to say each one as they were said, "Come over here, it's getting cold and fires don't work inside caves."

Lux acquiesed, slowly standing, stretching her limbs, before closing the five foot gap between them. Darius realized he hadn't needed to use his axe to close that gap this time. He scooted over and took the cloak out from under him, allowing Lux to sit where he had been sitting which was now warm from his muscular form.

As Lux sat down uncomfortably close to Darius, he deftly threw the makeshift blanket over their bodies. Both of them stared straight ahead, neither wanting to confront the awkward situation they found themselves in. Darius furiously glowered to the other side of the cave, unwilling to show Lux even the slightest more compassion.

Then she started to shiver again due to muscle inactivity and cold. Darius couldn't even believe what was coming out of his mouth when he said, "I officially give you permission to hold onto my arm for the purposes of sharing warmth."

Lux turned to look at Darius, trying to read his face, but all he did was keep staring straight ahead, unwilling to allow his vision to confirm the situation at hand. She hesitantly reached over to his right elbow and pulled it over to her chest. Darius realized she had removed the armor on her person, leaving the blue jumpsuit as the only real protection she had from the cold. It was thick, but skintight and easily chilled through.

Unfortunately for Darius, this meant his elbow was now firmly encased by Lux's arms and breasts, which molded to the shape of his forearm musles. Darius began to grit his teeth, drawing all nerve response information from his arm and immediately linking it up to his mental trash bin.

The rain continued outside with it's normally calming sound. Darius leaned his head back and looked toward the ceiling. There wasn't anything to see. Suddenly it got a whole bunch darker in the cave. Darius could barely see anything. Eventually his eyes adjusted and he looked around for an explanation, before quickly finding one.

Lux had fallen asleep, head on his shoulder, arm held to her body for warmth. When she had fallen asleep, a light providing spell she had slipped into the cave when they first got in had been extinguished. Her bright hair fell across her face, obscuring her expression from the world. Darius tenderly drew his left hand across his body and lightly brushed the golden wisps behind her ear. For the first time, Darius saw Lux as she was to most people. Her face looked peaceful, not fiersome, and actually quite cute with her mouth slightly agape to breathe while sleeping.

Darius realized what he was thinking and almost vomited. _What am I thinking?_ he wondered angrily. _Lux is the enemy on Noxus_, he fiercely smoldered. Then he stopped. He realized he respected her. She had fought him and taken a severe wound, but not allowed that to hold her back from helping him drive off the monstrous creature that had ambushed them. She had walked through the thick jungle for probably roughly an hour on that wound and had not showed even a single sign of weakness during that whole time. She had accepted his help when needed, but not asked for it.

And now she trusted him enough to fall asleep on his arm. Darius sighed the deepest he had all day. She had true strength. Were she a Noxian by birth, he knew, she would have become a prominent figure in her own right. He realized she was a powerful opponent and worthy of respect. She had also kept quiet, wisely knowing that to provoke the Hand of Noxus in a confined space would be detrimental to both of them.

Darius felt the bond of respect that he felt with few others present between him and Lux. He knew she would watch over him if he slept and she were awake. Darius realized he was quite tired from his exertion during the day and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly in the sudden safety of realizing he was in the presence of an ally.

* * *

Darius awoke, and slowly ground his eyes open. He turned his head over to see if Lux had awoken and was confronted by her large blue eyes staring directly into his. And there they stayed, locked by each other's gaze. Eventually the awkwardness became too much and Darius was about to turn away, when a blinding flash of blue came, and he found himself in a private summoning chamber, surrounded by nearly fifteen summoners.

After the summoner's cheered for a minute, clearly happy they had figured out what was going on, Draven showed up through the door and made the cheesiest pose ever, throwing his hands up into the air, shouting, "Brother! I was almost worried about you there." Then Draven ran up to his brother and embraced him in a great manly hug. The flashes of picture demons told the true tale behind why Draven was being so . . . Draven.

Darius was shell shocked. Straight from cuddling with an enemy of Noxus to embracing his blood brother. How had life gotten so complicated?

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, here it is. Fluff for the masses. So much for getting tons updated this week, two tests can do that to you. Anyway, here it is. Darius x Lux. Hope you liked it. Lux didn't say much, but I kinda thought it was better that way.

Anyway, as always, please review. If you hated it, tell me why, I'll make the next stuff better! Stay tuned for more of other stuff.


	2. Chapter 2

Darius sighed. Life had become downright complicated. In the week following the strange events that had started at the new Twisted Treeline, Darius had focused on doing what he did best in the League, but it hadn't let him forget the entire experience. Somehow, he doubted it would ever fade from his memory, no matter how much he wished for it to. "Oh well," he morosely said under his breath, suddenly realizing he was still in the middle of a match.

Across the lane from him, Riven let out a warcry, activating her powerful runeblade and restoring it to full form. This might've made Darius pause if he hadn't been doing so well against her previously in the match. She started to sprint towards him, deftly holding the oversized sword in only one hand, while using the other to push minions in the lane out of her way.

In anticipation for the incoming onslaught, Darius brought his full height to bear, straightening his back, and readying his brutal axe. Just before Riven came within range, he let out a light chuckle. As she started to tackle him, she spun around, whipping the sword this way and that, dancing a dangerous dance of metal and sweat. Although Darius had trouble blocking each strike, he did just that before bracing the end of the axe against his stomach and pushing hard against it, causing it to spin around his person incredibly fast.

The weapon's speed caught the now off-balance exile by surprise, tearing a wound in her shoulder before she managed to slip out of range. Darius didn't really think she ought to get away from such an exchange so easily, so he reached out with the backside of his axe and pulled her right back to him. Riven's eyes betrayed her fear as Darius skillfully worked his brutal axe into her left leg's quadriceps, knowing it would cripple her ability to run away.

Darius looked into Riven's eyes and saw nothing but weakness waiting to be purged. A couple more flashes of his axe later, which the exile before him desperately tried to fend off, Riven was nearing the end. Darius looked down at the feeble woman before him and decided to make her end even quicker than usual. With a quick and efficient flash, his axe separated her head from her shoulders. Before her body even hit the ground, it was entirely dissolved. She shouldn't have turned her back, or exposed her neck, Darius thought to himself.

The Hand of Noxus gave an approving nod of his head at a job well done. "Your teammates are amassing in the middle lane where a large fight will likely take place," the ever present summoner in Darius' head during a match intoned.

"My destination is clear," Darius mentally sent back to the summoner. Afterwards, he lumbered towards the river, thinking about what his plan should be once he got there. If his teammates were to engage before he got there, then he would rush in as quickly as possible to provide a distraction from the members of his team with more of an opportunity to deal damage. If they had not engaged by the time he got there, then he would circle around behind the enemy, and force an unfavorable engagement upon them.

The walk through river was always surprisingly time consuming. The adrenaline response that accompanies combat slowed down Darius' perception of time as he strode through the water with purpose. To keep his mind occupied, he thought about the likely scenario as the fight broke out. Leona and Ezreal had been at bottom lane, meaning Ezreal would be focused on forcing as many bolts of energy into the enemy team as possible while Leona would help initiate and keep dangerous targets off of Ezreal. Leona was able to take up a lot of attacks with her ridiculously sturdy armor; indeed, Darius had been surprised by the thickness of the armor many times before. Their jungler was Xin Zhao, who had remained expressionless during team select, but Darius had known that there was ingrained hostility directed at him. To the Demacian's credit, he had dutifully carried out his duties as jungler without complaint, even when that had been to scare Riven into attacking Darius at the beginning of the match.

And their middle laner was, ironically, the Lady of Luminosity herself, Luxanna Crownguard. Darius tried not to flinch as he thought about her on his way to middle lane. She had done well against the Cryopheonix during most of the game, building her strength through various power talismans and focusing artifacts through the match. Darius neared mid lane and started to hear the sounds of battle.

Arrows whistled through the air and desperate shouts echoed from beyond Darius' sight. He hurried his pace and rushed through the slight brush that blocked his view of the battle. On the other side, he was met with a tableaux of chaos that was all too familiar to a seasoned veteran of war like him. Leona had done her best to protect Ezreal, but Diana was already dashing to the Piltovian, slashing at his frail body with her dangerous crescent blade. Leona had quickly decided that Ezreal was doomed and, as the cunning strategist nobody gave her credit for, used her zenith blade to dash to the enemy back ranks. Xin Zhao was off battling with the Judicator herself, and doing fairly well despite the angel's advantage. The Cryophoenix was also flying in to help Diana with Ezreal.

Darius quickly settled on the nearest target, Ashe. Ashe unleashed arrows towards Lux en masse, driving the light mage to shield herself and remain locked down trying to dodge as many arrows as possible. Darius bade his summoner to use the flash spell to gap close between him and the Freljordian, but only received information that the spell was on cooldown. Instead, he began to run as fast as he could in the full armor he wore.

Before he could get there, one of Ashe's arrows punctured both Lux's armor and shield, piercing her gut. Lux instantly shuddered from the cold, and Darius observed frost gather on her lips. Ezreal had also been seemingly trapped by a wall of ice, until he teleported himself far out of reach as one of his basic skills. Xin Zhao was doing well until Kayle activated her ultimate ability, rendering herself invulnerable to harm. Afterwards, Xin met his end very quickly. Leona had been duped by Anivia's summoner and his use of the flash spell, so she soon turned to run and try to stop Kayle from doing any more damage.

Lux couldn't withstand the level of damage that Ashe was dealing for much longer, but Darius still had another 10 feet to close before he could do anything, and the time it took to close that distance seemed to take forever. In the meantime, Anivia and Diana turned to the only other target they could get to, Luxanna. Anivia spawned a swirling vortex of frost and ice, battering Lux in the frost. Diana threw a curved bolt of moonlight, which struck Lux square in the gut, and then dashed to her now keeling over frame. The force of one attack from Diana's wicked blade forced Lux upright and threatened to throw her back, but the real damage was done when Anivia sent a jagged spike of ice through Lux's breastplate, impaling her clean through where her heart was.

Darius didn't understand it, but somewhere deep within him, a barrier of restraint snapped open, awakening the brutal side of him that he had held back since his days during the war with Demacia. Lux breathed out her last breath into the air, which cleared after the Cryophoenix let go of the whirlwind of frost and ice. Lux's face was covered in a dull white sheet of snow, eyes probably frozen. Her hair itself had been frozen solid, likely to shatter upon reaching the ground.

A guttural roar of pure rage escaped Darius as he spun his axe once around his torso, tearing a large chunk of flesh out of the frost archer's side. He followed it up by hefting his axe far over his head and leaping into the air, before coming down with incredible force, all of his muscles working to perfection. Ashe's body was cleaved straight down the middle, a disgusting spray of gore following.

The next closest target was Anivia, but this time, Darius knew the summoner spell flash was up. His summoner quickly activated it and Darius was suddenly within arm's reach of Anivia. Ezreal had apparently made himself useful, as an arc of energy pulsed through both Diana and Anivia's bodies, shattering layers of ice and snapping bones as it did so. Darius hesitated not, hefting his axe over his head again, letting loose the guttural roar once again, and bringing the monstrous axe down upon the crystalline body of Anivia. She simply shattered into a seemingly endless amount of slivers of ice.

Behind the shower of ice, Kayle was revealed to Darius. Diana was also to his right, but she would simply have to wait until after he had dealt with the judicator. The angel lit her sword on fire, lighting up the nearby area with light at the same time as calling out to her teammates with the familiar cry of, "Into the fray!"

Darius would have replied in kind, but his mind was foggy as he struggled to stare through the red mist of rage which continued to obscure his vision. Instead he charged forward with brutal efficiency, readying himself for the fiery onslaught. Kayle slashed with her sword through the air and immediately a radiating pulse of flame burst forth from Darius' right shoulder where the sword would have hit if she had been at melee range. The strong noxian grunted in pain, yet continued onward with his frantic pace.

Fifteen feet remained. Kayle slashed again, crisping his hair. Ten feet left. She slashed a third time, burning the skin on his face. A mere five feet before she was within range. Kayle slashed and followed up with a reddish bolt of power which dulled Darius' senses and made his actions sluggish. It mattered not, he had already planned out exactly what to do.

Instantly as he closed distance, The Hand of Noxus spun his monstrous axe around his person again, nicking the angelic figure in her hip despite her attempts to dodge it. She flapped her wings with power, sending her up into the air to swing downward powerfully at Darius, but he had already gone into the motion of hooking her right leg with the backside of his axe. As Kayle's strike would surely have landed on the Noxian's unprotected head, he gave a massive tug, pulling her through the air to slam directly into him.

Before Kayle could react, Darius lashed out with the handle end of his axe, keeping her off balance. Continuing the swing, Darius slammed his axe into her breastplate, dealing further significant damage to the general structural integrity. The slightest amount of blood was once again present on the wicked axe. Kayle did not have as much of an added magical bonus from the magical talismans as Darius because of the difference in income during the game. Knowing this, the judicator began to turn in an attempt to at least buy time for Diana to finish off Ezreal.

Darius was able to get in another strike on Kayle as she left, striking her right wing squarely, forcing her to walk with her now weakened physical strength. Blood seeped from several wounds in her armor. With a slight groan from the pain of being forced to use her legs, Kayle betrayed how weak she was. Darius struck while the iron was hot, leaping into the air once again with his axe held between his hands behind his back. Leveraging incredible power through his now sore muscles, Darius screamed in fury as he brought the axe down upon Kayle's damaged form, striking her in the shoulder and immediately mangling her armor as the vicious axe continued through her body, leaving behind a familiar explosion of gore.

There was not but one last member of the enemy team that remained. Darius turned to look towards his team's side of the lane and assess where Diana was. What he saw was Ezreal baiting the heretic further and further into their territory. Certainly he was in danger, but Darius knew Ezreal was sadistic enough to view the fight as more of a game than a life or death situation. Leona followed them, desperate to protect the cute Piltovian from her nemesis.

He set off towards them, rage in his eyes not yet sated, requiring just a little more gore to whet his blade. Ezreal was almost cornered against a thick line of trees, but then he used his arcane shift once again, teleporting to the other side of the trees. Diana sent a crescent slash of moonlight after him in an attempt to follow, but it did not connect. She was obviously white with rage as she let out a truly frightening scream as if she was a banshee.

Turning to the other target nearly within reach, Diana charged Leona, making a forceful impact on the heavy shield carried by the Radiant Dawn. Leona was not phased, opting to instead thrust out with her shield to bash Diana in her unprotected state. The Scorn of the Moon was visibly dazed from the unexpected attack, and Leona capitalized on it by nimbly slashing twice, injuring the other woman's right arm and left thigh. Darius drew closer and closer.

Diana then retaliated by slashing twice in reply against Leona's shield, marking the majestic defense. She then charged up the moonlight in her crescent sword for a second before slashing with visible moonlight upon the blade, knocking the shield away from defending Leona's self. Diana was then quicker than Leona and she shot another crescent moonbeam into the other woman's chest before charging into her once again, this time hitting her chest instead of the shield. Leona was winded and vulnerable, probably doomed.

Or she would have been, if Darius hadn't shown up at that moment. Diana was too focused on finishing off her old adversary to notice Darius spinning the axe in the same familiar manner he had many times in the last couple minutes. This time the axe mashed its way through her meager chest armor and burst through the right side of her ribcage. The breath was stolen from Diana's lungs as she was instantly crippled beyond the damage she had already received from Ezreal and Leona. She fell to the ground directly in front of Leona, who knew better than to steal Darius' final piece of revenge.

Unable to muster the energy required to leap into the air a fifth time in such a short period, Darius merely brought his axe around behind him and began to bring it down upon the nearly finished heretic. Just as he was to finish her off, Diana looked Darius straight in the eyes with such a look of ferocity and anger that Darius had not seen. He was unphased, mind unable to focus on anything other than the frozen, broken body of the Lady of Luminosity while she breathed her last breath.

The axe descended. The battle was over. Red haze lifting from his vision, Darius looked around at the utter destruction he had wrought. It did indeed remind him of his days as a soldier in the army. Gore splattered the landscape, with red trails where his axe had dripped leading from one bloody victim to the next. Amidst it all was Lux's battered motionless body. Amazingly her hair had not shattered upon hitting the ground, so it glittered with the sunlight, merely adding to the morose beacon of light she was already.

Then the summoners' magic kicked in at the end of the fight and all the organic matter from the fight evaporated into blue light before dissipating into the air. The large Noxian watched the cloud of blue that had once been a light sorceress. The feelings he felt at that moment were both uncomfortable, and a mystery to him.

Giving a short grunt and pushing everything to the back of his mind, Darius spun on his heel and began walking back to their base to spend the quite obscene amount of in-match currency garnered by the ludicrous slaughter. Ezreal gave him a funny look as he walked past him, halfway between respectful fear and open curiosity. On any other day, Darius would have capitalized on the opportunity by uttering something suitably intimidating like "Noxus will rise," but today, his heart just wasn't in it.

* * *

The match ended shortly after, Darius and Ezreal were too fed for the enemy to keep them from pushing through the inhibitors and eventually the nexus. When it did end, Darius requested his summoner drop him back at his room in the Institute instead of at the typical room that also functioned as an organization room. Since it was the last match for the day that Darius was available for, his summoner acquiesced, leaving Darius alone in his room with only a faint trace of blue powder that had left to melt into the air after the magic faded.

The proud Noxian drew a deep breath of relief before moving over to the single comfortable chair he kept in his apartment and flopping down. Today had been more exhausting than Darius had anticipated. He leaned his head back and looked up at the ceiling. "Feels like I'm back at the academy," he whispered to himself thinking about the drama mixed with on-campus residence.

Quickly deciding his apartment was too uncomfortable to be in, Darius decided to continue to check the back hallways of the Institute of War as was his entire purpose for living there in the first place. He had always been reluctant to join the League of Legends, wishing instead to make significant differences. The League had lately become a site of stagnation. Political leaders flared and locked horns, but it was all just posturing. The summoners themselves had enough power to end all potential disputes. After the stunt in Kalamanda, Darius knew he had to join the League eventually to grasp an understanding of how the place worked. So in his off-time, the Hand of Noxus would wander dark passageways, searching for hidden secrets kept from the world that he could exploit to Noxus' gain.

So far he had found cobwebs. _A lot_ of cobwebs. All the same, he kept at it and it was a nice distraction from the day, so the large man got up, strapped his axe to his back, and strode out of his room, headed for whichever corner was the darkest. It wasn't long before he lived to regret his decision, as the day's stresses caught up to him and he found himself spending more time trying not to think about it than he did having anything else to do at all.

A sound echoed down the hall he was walking. There was someone, or something, ahead of him in the dark. Whoever it was wasn't tripping the automatic hextech lanterns that were designed to keep any typical human from getting completely lost. Darius unstrapped his axe and held perfectly still so the lantern nearest him would go out.

As it did, he was left in absolute darkness while the slight sound from down the corridor continued to echo. Eyes still adjusting, Darius was as good as blind for the moment, so he relied on his sense of hearing to tell when the unknown presence would approach. The sound suddenly became somewhat louder, indicating a probable turn of a corner. _Excellent_, Darius thought, knowing the other person/thing would be unaware of his presence then until it got into extreme proximity. The sound grew in definition, becoming a slight scraping sound as if the soft side of metal against the stone floor. There also appeared to be some kind of . . . high heels?

Before he knew what was happening, the other being bumped into Darius' breastplate. Maybe it was the smell, or the sound jogged his brain, but before he jumped and the lantern burst to life once again, Darius had an inkling as to who it was. Then he did jump back and yell wildly, bringing his axe to bear as the light burst forth.

In response, the sun itself shone back in all its brilliance, practically blinding the poor Noxian before he knew what was even happening. His yell twisted into more of a scream of pain as he desperately tried to shield his eyes from the insane brightness. Moments later, Darius forced himself to look up at what could only be Lux. Sure enough, there she was, blond hair and light complexion reflecting every ounce of light spilled upon her.

"No," Darius categorically denied the whole situation. "No," he repeated again in weak intensity. He started backing up, completely unable to accept that he had randomly come across the very person he was trying most to avoid. Lux's face twisted from blank surprise into one of maniacal anger.

"NO?" She yelled with surprising power, clearly about to begin spilling. "WE LITERALLY BUMP INTO EACH OTHER AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS 'NO'?"

Darius felt tempted to say something in response, but Lux went on. "WHAT THE HELL IS EVEN GOING ON?" she demanded, but didn't leave enough time for him to respond. "WHY? WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL ME?" she yelled, golden hair billowing around her head in angry curls.

"You were useful," Darius said at a new low tone he hadn't heard himself use before, nearly making the tight corridor vibrate with the harmony.

"I WAS NOT," Lux screamed in flat denial. "WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL ME?"

Darius once again searched his mind for any kind of response, but the Hand of Noxus knew only the political and martial battlefields, never before had he experienced this. Tears appeared from Lux's now reddening eyes as she shouted on at full volume, "DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT MY BROTHER SAID?"

Again, Darius felt like he should answer, but he felt as if an observer to someone else's life. This couldn't be him in this situation, it must be Draven or someone else stupid enough to incur this kind of situation. "HE SAID 'What information did you glean from him?' LIKE I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING TO BENEFIT DEMACIA AT THE TIME!" Lux dropped her voice and did a low and stupid impression of her brother's voice before going on with the yelling, nearly making her voice crack.

"I WAS DEAD, YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME. WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST DO IT?" the light mage continued on, "THEN MY BROTHER WOULD'VE BEEN HAPPY BECAUSE I'D BE A MARTYR." Tears openly streamed down her face, dulling the brightness typical for her complexion. She began sobbing lightly before repeating the question again, but softly this time, "Why didn't you kill me?"

Against all odds, Darius realized he was talking. "I don't know," he admitted softly, for once in his life being unsure of what was to be done.

Lux brought up her baton and hugged her arms to her chest, still clad in the day's battle armor, trying in vain to keep herself from openly sobbing. Darius stared, completely unable to understand what was going on. Not a thought in his mind flew through the space between his ears, still ringing with the now sobbing girl's accusations.

Lux sniffed heavily and wiped her face with a single swipe from one of her graceful hands. Starting forward, Lux said under her breath, "It doesn't matter, nobody cares." She forcefully, yet not too much so, pushed Darius out of the way while she walked past him. He watched her walk past, her typically luminescent figure not setting any lanterns off as she walked out into the darkness.

Darius couldn't recount the hour after that. Somehow he had found his way to the Noxian summoners to ask to be returned to his private residence within Noxus itself. A short teleportation later and he was free to take the stairs to his personal training facility, filled with automatic minion spawns, assorted talismans, and more weapons than one could literally shake a stick at. He dove right into his rigorous training session he hadn't engaged in for far too long.

Darius started disengaging his armor, content to let it simply fall to the ground. The massive axe he had worn all the way there clanged to the ground with a clatter. Eventually, the proud Noxian's body was left wrapped solely in an athletic top, thick leggings, and standard issue Noxian combat boots.

Grabbing a massive axe just like the one he always used, Darius strode out into the main area of the enormous room, beginning the stream of minions. It hadn't taken Zaun long to discern how the minions were summoned automatically without direct functioning summoners behind each one, and after that it was relatively easy to set up League fight simulations. The Hand of Noxus didn't think about that though, instead he spun and twirled, dashing apart summoned material right and left. The waves of enemies became increasingly stronger and more difficult to destroy, yet Darius made short work of all of them.

A late wave into the session, every minion spawned was a 'super' minion. The sweat dripped off Darius' every muscular protrusion, indicating that his body was indeed being strained despite his mental focus, or lack thereof. The minions streamed at him with massive numbers, but the great warrior merely began to yell in defiance while the automated enemies threatened to overwhelm him. Yelling with greater intensity, a flash of memory began to force its way into his mind.

Darius was forced to relive the experiences where he recognized Lux's face. Before the incident at the treeline, Lux's face shone as a beacon, but it was replaced shortly after by her pained expression after being wounded in the jungle. Next he saw her face while she slept in the cave, but this too was replaced by her face overcome with tears. The yell of fury drew higher to a point where Darius almost worried others would hear. Minion matter melted away before bright flashes of his axe, leaving greenish, dissolving sparkles to fall upon the ground.

More minions streamed out of summoning corners, all too pleased to get a chance to die at the hand of the pure nightmare their clones still fought. Darius continued his yell beyond what should have been possible, haunted by the thoughts arising within his own mind. The minions continued onward with still greater numbers, the axe still somehow finding its way into each slight weak point in the armor. As Darius began to feel as if he were running out of air, a final image of Lux flitted into his mind. She was waving to him in the hallway before the fated event that was to follow. Intense pressure smashed against the base of Darius' skull, and the world melted, leaving only the image of the light mage until that too disappeared.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Let me just say one thing right here. You know who you are, this isn't a personal attack, I just didn't feel like rewriting it. It was humor, and I mean nothing other than humor by it. And second, to everyone who continued to review asking for more and following despite the story saying it was complete, here's to you all. Honestly, a lot of crazy crap has been going on lately, and I'm starting to feel like everything is balancing out again. So hopefully more writing more often than once every three months. Anyway, as always, do review if you have something to say, I love the feedback, and I'll see you all at the next installment.


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